Israel hits Gaza with air strikes after bodies of kidnapped teenagers found

Israeli warplanes hit 34 sites in early hours and Palestinian dies in West
Bank clashes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to make Hamas pay
for deaths of young settlers

A ball of fire is seen following an Israel airstrike in RafahPhoto: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Robert Tait, Jerusalem

10:18AM BST 01 Jul 2014

Israeli planes struck 34 sites in Gaza early on Tuesday in an early statement of intent hours after the bodies of three teenagers were found murdered in the West Bank

The strikes followed a vow by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to make Hamas pay for the deaths of the three and came amid mounting speculation of a wider military response to an event that has reverberated across Israeli society and prompted calls for vengeance.

Four Palestinians were said to have been slightly wounded in the Gaza raids, which was the latest in a succession of recent Israeli strikes carried out in response to rockets being fired from the territory

In a separate incident, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed after clashes broke out in Jenin in the West Bank after Israeli forces went to carry out arrests.

Police were also investigating the claims of a 21-year-old Israeli woman that she escaped after being kidnapped in a car and held in a building in a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

The latest incidents came after the bodies of Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, were found buried in a field north of the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday 18 days after they disappeared.

The funerals of the three are due to be held on Tuesday afternoon in a ceremony expected to be attended by thousands of mourners.

Israel has named two known Hamas members from the Hebron area as the prime suspects in their abduction and subsequent murder. The two men, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh, have not been seen since before the abduction, though members of their families have been arrested and interrogated. The home of one of the men was partially demolished by the Israeli army early on Tuesday, it was reported.

It also emerged that the three teenagers are thought to have been shot dead shortly after being picked up outside the Gush Etzion settlement in the West Bank at around 10pm on June 12, when they were trying to hitch hike to central Israel.

A recording of a call that one of the youths made to a police hotline was said to reveal sounds of gunshots, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

There were also traces of bullet holes in the remains of the burnt-out Hyundai car in which the three are thought to have accepted a lift. The vehicle was found near Dura, south of Hebron, the day after the teenagers disappeared.

Moshe Ya'alon, the Israeli defence minister, reiterated Mr Netanyahu's threat to strike at Hamas on Tuesday. "We see Hamas as responsible for the kidnapping and murder, and know we will settle the score with them. We will continue to pursue the murderers of the boys, and we won't be silent and we won't rest until they are in our hands," he said.

However, amid the talk of retribution there was also plea for caution, with some commentators saying that Mr Netanyahu had no desire to trigger a wider conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Alex Fishman, a columnist in Yedioth Ahronoth, warned that the Israeli prime minister must “not act from the gut".

"Before the order is given to open fire, our military capability must be examined, the range of targets and their quality must be examined, and we must also talk to the Americans and the Europeans," he wrote. "The only thing that we must not do is bang our head against the wall and instead of achieving deterrence, end up with a stronger Hamas that enjoys international sympathy...We’ve been down that road before.”